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Archive for the ‘Basketball’ Category

From the moment that Enes Kanter arrived in the United States he has been followed.

Followed by NBA scouts trying to gauge his basketball potential, and by journalist trying to uncover his remarkable story.

Kanter came to the United States via Istanbul, Turkey, where he played for a professional basketball club. If you ask Kanter, and those that surround him, you will be told that he never accepted any payment for the professional games that he played in, aside from the usual payments such as room and board, similar to that of an American prep school. Others say that Kanter was payed like any other professional overseas.

“We are renting them a house and giving him pocket money.” Nedim Karakas, General Manager of the Turkish club that Kanter played for, told the New York Times.

The Times states that Kanter was payed anywhere from $100,000-$150,000 over a three-year span, beginning when he was fourteen.

These conflicting reports, coupled with the fact that no official evidence has been provided to the N.C.A.A. send mixed signals to both Kanter and his potential coach John Calipari, who in April told The Sporting News that “We know that, as in any other club, he received apparel. But there was no money, from what we’re seeing.”

Calipari later added that there is “a lot of misinformation out there. You’ve got people talking about it that don’t know, just heard a rumor.”

One reason that Kanter’s situation may differ from that of other European stars who have tried their luck at college athletics in America, such as Deniz Kilicli at West Virginia last year, is that Kanter’s father is a nationally-known doctor and is considered to be very wealthy.

Kanter also has expressed interest in the American way of life as opposed to turning to professionally playing basketball out of high school.

“I know in basketball I can play anywhere,” he said. “I couldn’t get the culture and the language where I was.”

To go along with the amount of financial stability and the will to learn that Kanter has is his desire to experience American college life.

“I wanted to come here and experience the NCAA,” Kanter told Evan Daniels of Scout.com. “My aim was to do this in America. I didn’t want to do this in Europe.”

Whether or not he ever steps foot on a collegiate basketball floor remains to be seen, but his skills will be in the NBA one day no matter the outcome.

ESPN’s weekly ‘College Gameday’ is being hosted inside Rupp Arena today, leading up to tonight’s difficult matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers (9PM ET).

Digger Phelps, Hubert Davis, Jay Bilas, and Erin Andrews (YES) join Rece Davis inside Rupp to break down the game among other things. The entire arena has been sold out in anticipation for the event, making it the largest Gameday ever.

Starting at 9PM ET on ESPNU, UK recruits Michael Gilchrist (#1 in 2011) and Doron Lamb (#23 in 2010) will be dueling off when Oak Hill Academy meets St. Patrick’s tonight. These are two of the top programs in the nation and it will show the talents of some of the premiere players in the nation.

– It looks like the Cats long-awaited new jerseys have been released, as they have been seen at local Dick’s Sporting Goods stores across Kentucky. Here are a couple pics:

– UK takes on Alabama tonight (9PM ET) in a matchup between two coaches who are in their first year with their respective teams. The biggest storyline though is DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe taking on their homestate school. Cousins personally has some bad blood with his home state so look for him to come out with a bag of chips on his shoulder.

– International big man Enes Kanter has been a hot commodity since coming to the United States, though his buzz went away for the most part after committing to Washington a couple months ago. Kanter has re-opened his recruitment and is considering the Cats. Kanter posted 50 points and 20 rebounds in his last game, so yeah he’s good.

The Cats moved up to #3 in the Associated Press college basketball rankings today after previously #2 Villanova lost last week. The Cats, who were #3 last week in the ESPN/USA Today poll, moved up one spot in their poll as well.

Kentucky got a more-than-impressive win tuesday night in front of over 24,000 fans in Rupp Arena.

DeMarcus Cousins led the Cats with 18 points and 13 rebounds—fourth consecutive double-double—in a 85-75 win over the Mississippi Rebels.

Sparked by an early 15-0 run, the Wildcats took a quick 18-point lead before once again letting the large advantage slip away, down to only a 9-point edge at the half.

Coach John Calipari must have said something about taking quality shots during his halftime speech because Kentucky got John Wall (17 points and 7 assists) and sharp-shooter Darnel Dodson (4-4 3PT) involved in the shooting early. Dodson nailed two threes in the first three minutes of the second half and it created a confusion on the defensive end for the Rebels.

The win over Ole Miss pushes Kentucky’s record to 21-1 overall and 6-1 in the SEC. More importantly, the win puts the Cats at 6-0 vs. ranked opponents, a mark that is tops in the nation.

Notes

– With 13 rebounds against Ole Miss, DeMarcus Cousins now has 216 on the season, pushing him past Rick Robey for 3rd in rebounding by freshmen. He should pass Chris Mills (277) and Sam Bowie (276) by the end of the season.

– Darnell Dodson scored 14 points tuesday including 4-4 from behind the arc. Dodson has scored in double-figures and hit at least 4 three pointers in back-to-back games

– The 21 assists the Cats had ties their mark against Sam Houston State for the third-most this season

– By scoring 46 points in the first half, the Cats set a season-high for first-half points

– With the win, UK moves to 97-12 (.889) all-time vs. Ole Miss including winning 11 of the last 12 matchups

– Tonight on his call-in show, John Calipari confirmed that the Cats WILL be wearing new uniforms next week. It will most likely be next saturday when the ESPN College Gameday crew is in Lexington to call the Kentucky-Tennessee game. The jerseys, according to Coach Cal, are of the LeBron James brand, a branch of Nike

The Wildcats handled the Vanderbilt Commodores 85-72 in front of a surprisingly quiet crowd at Rupp Arena saturday afternoon.

It was once again freshman DeMarcus Cousins who set the tone for the Cats, leading the team in scoring (21) and rebounding (10) in the win against the Commodores.

He was helped by Patrick Patterson, who came up with some huge rebounds, and John Wall, who led the team in assists with nine.

Coming off a heart-breaking loss at South Carolina, it was crucial that UK came out with a vegence against Vanderbilt after returning to their home arena. Fortunately the Cats got hot early, knocking down many open jump shots in the opening minutes 0f the game.

Darnell Dodson got his first start of the season as Eric Bledsoe took a seat on the bench to start the game. Starting Dodson proved to be a very good move by John Calipari as the JUCO transfer went for 16 points and 7 rebounds in 18 minutes.

Bledsoe ended up playing better because of the move as well, scoring 13 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in 33 minutes off the bench. Darius Miller went scoreless for the second consecutive plays and ended up playing only 8 minutes, showing that he may be seeing his minutes dwindle right before his eyes.

The Wildcats, though they got in early foul trouble, proved that they could contain even the best big men in the SEC as Vandy center AJ Ogilvy did not make a field goal until there was 9 minutes left in the game.

Notes

– With the win over Vandy, Kentucky moved into a tie with the Commodores for the SEC lead at 5-1 in the league. Kentucky holds the tie-breaker because of the head-to-head win saturday.

– DeMarcus Cousins notched his twelfth double-double of the season, breaking the freshman record at UK that he previously shared with Chris Mills

– The 12 three-pointers that UK hit was the second most of the season (Hartford)

– LeBron James was at the game today, and receieved a huge ovation as he was the “Y” today. The team also wore LeBron’s newest shoe in a black colorway for the first time.

– 2010 5-star forward CJ Leslie was in the house today as well. Leslie is considering UK along with NC State, Florida, and Georgetown among others.

Coming off their first loss of the season, the Wildcats look to rebound as they return home to face the pesky Vanderbily Commodores. Vandy is known for giving UK tough games and beating them on a semi-consistent basis.

Vanderbilt is off to their best start in school history and is looking to start 17-3 on the season with a win at Rupp.

Sophomore guard Jeffery Taylor leads Vandy in scoring at just over 14 ppg as well as averaging 5 rpg. One bright spot for the Cats concerning Taylor is that he is not a threat from behind the arc, a trait that scoring guards have dominated Kentucky with.

Big man AJ Ogilvy is the workhorse down low in the post for the Commodores, averaging 13 ppg and 6 rpg. Ogilvy has done pretty well in his career against the Cats, averaging 16.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in three games against the Cats, two of which have been wins.

For the Cats, Patrick Patterson has to be more effective and involved in the offensive sets that UK runs. Both Patterson and coach John Calipari are to blame for Patterson being non-existent for long stretches this season. Calipari has shown tendencies to defer to freshmen over the Wildcats’ proven scorer and leader.

Along with Patterson, DeMarcus Cousins needs to bang down low early and needs to STAY OUT OF FOUL TROUBLE, something that has plagued him more than any player that I can remember. If Patterson and Cousins can get AJ Ogilvy in some foul trouble early then UK should be able to feel comfortable.

Around the perimeter, along with Taylor, Vanderbily has a trio of solid guards that have become a staple for Kevin Stallings and his teams. Jermaine Beal, John Jenkins, and Taylor are all very involved in the scoring offense for Vandy. Brad Tinsley comes in for Vandy and gives them solid minutes, one of six players that plays 20+ minutes per game.

Two inconsistent players for the Cats—Darius Miller and Eric Bledsoe—are going to need to step up if Kentucky wants to play an efficient game. Miller and Bledsoe combined to shoot 2-9 from the floor with only 4 points, 6 assists, and 7 turnovers. When two of your starters do not produce it is hard for your team to be successful.